Gonzalo Díaz's 1997 Installation Critiques Chilean State Infrastructure at National Museum of Fine Arts
In 1997, Gonzalo Díaz, a Chilean artist, unveiled the installation 'Unidos en la Gloria y en la Muerte' at Santiago's National Museum of Fine Arts. This work incorporated neon lettering and metal shoring tubes, alluding to President Manuel Montt's 1850 communication and the ideas of Venezuelan intellectual Andrés Bello. The title draws from Rebeca Matte's 1930 sculpture located outside the museum. Emerging during Chile's transition from dictatorship, the piece examined themes of authority and law, referencing the 1980 Constitution and the onset of re-democratization in 1990. Critics, including Nelly Richard, explored its critique of institutions. The installation engaged with discussions in Latin American conceptual art and featured infrastructural aesthetics, captured through photographs and videos after its deconstruction, which Díaz described as a 'meaning-making machine.'
Key facts
- Gonzalo Díaz created 'Unidos en la Gloria y en la Muerte' in 1997 at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago, Chile
- The installation featured neon text on the museum façade and metal shoring tubes in the Matta Hall
- Díaz used an excerpt from President Manuel Montt's 1850 parliamentary message about Chile's Civil Code written by Andrés Bello
- The title was appropriated from Rebeca Matte's 1930 bronze sculpture at the museum entrance
- The work was created during Chile's post-dictatorship transition period following Augusto Pinochet's regime
- The museum building was designed by French architect Emile Jéquier and inaugurated in 1910
- Díaz's earlier works include '¿Qué Hacer? – Chtó Dielat?' (1984) and 'El Jardín del Artista' (1993) in Montevideo, Uruguay
- The installation has been deconstructed for safekeeping but remains documented through photographs and videos
Entities
Artists
- Gonzalo Díaz
- Elvira Hernández
- Rebeca Matte
- Andrés Bello
- Guillermo Cordova
- Emile Jéquier
- Gordon Matta-Clark
- Cecilia Vicuña
- Lea Lublin
- Juan Downey
- Eugenio Dittborn
- Doris Salcedo
- Tania Bruguera
- Adrian Piper
- Mierle Laderman Ukeles
- Subodh Gupta
- William Kentridge
- Luis Camnitzer
- Nemesio Antúnez
Institutions
- National Museum of Fine Arts
- Afterall
- Juan Manuel Blanes Museum
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
- Queens Museum
- Seville Expo
- Havana Biennial
- São Paulo Biennial
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Locations
- Santiago
- Chile
- Montevideo
- Uruguay
- Paris
- France
- New York
- United States
- Buenos Aires
- Argentina
- Seville
- Spain
- Mexico City
- Mexico
- Brazil
- Ecuador
- Colombia
- Nicaragua
- Venezuela
Sources
- Afterall —